昭和時期台灣的競馬場空照圖Aerial Photos of Horse Racing Tracks on Formosa

台灣西部的主要城市在日治時期都設置了競馬場，只可惜這些競馬場在戰後一座也沒留下來。弔詭的是，反而是當時日本的敵人──美國──幫我們保留了這些競馬場的影像。以下就是我在美軍偵察照片上找到的台北、新竹、台中、嘉義、台南、高雄、屏東等七座競馬場空照圖，另外我也在Google Maps上繪出這些競馬場的位置，讓各位比較和憑弔。There used to be horse racing tracks in major cities on Formosa when the island was under Japanese rule. After the end of WWII, these tracks were either abandoned or converted to other functions. Consequently, none of them exist today. In the following, I collate reconnaissance photos of these horse racing tracks taken in WWII by the Americans and compare them with current Google Maps satellite images. Enjoy.

台北競馬場 Taihoku (Taipei)

以下台北競馬場的照片攝於1945年6月18日，戰後這裡設立了政治作戰學校。The following photo was taken on June 18, 1945. The Chiang Kai-Shek government built the Political Warfare Academy at this location after the war.

嘉義競馬場 Kagi (Chiayi)

以下這張1945年1月18日的嘉義競馬場照片是美軍以傾斜照相方式拍的，在它下方的Google Maps衛星照片上可以看到位於原來競馬場右半邊的建築物排列成一個明顯的弧形。This oblique photo of the Kagi track was taken on January 18, 1945. In the Google Maps satellite image below it, you can see the buildings on the right half of the oval track after the war form a perfect arc.

高雄競馬場 Takao (Kaohsiung)

屏東競馬場 Heito (Pingtung)

美軍在1944年拍攝這張照片之前，屏東競馬場很可能就已經廢棄了，因為競馬場的輪廓已經很模糊，之後拍攝的偵察照片上完全都看不出這裡曾經有過競馬場。Most likely the Heito track had been abandoned before the following annotated photo was taken in 1944, probably due to its proximity to Heito Airdrome (part of the runway can be seen on the upper part of the photo). Nothing reminiscent of the racing track can be found on the photos taken in later years.

Thanks for a very interesting post. I always wondered where these race tracks were. I thought the main one was in Wanhau on the riverside.

There are a couple of horse race photos about 3/4 of the way down this page. you are welcome to post any images that you find useful for your very interesting Taiwan history articles: http://taipics.com/parks_beaches.php